Both the bridge and the station are very simple. The bridge is built entirely of wood, with the exception of the steel rails.
The station may be made out of thin wood, such as cigar-box wood. The doors, windows, etc., may be painted on the walls. If this is carefully done, it will give a very realistic appearance to your station.
CHAPTER XIX MINIATURE LIGHTING
Miniature lighting is a field of many interesting possibilities for the young experimenter. Any labor expended along this line will result in something far more useful from a practical standpoint than almost any of the other things described in this book.
Miniature lights, operated from batteries, may be used in various ways; to light dark corners, hallways, or other places where a light is often temporarily wanted without the accompanying danger and nuisance of matches or kerosene lamps.
Miniature lighting has only been made practical by the tungsten filament lamp. The filament, or wire inside the globe, which becomes hot and emits the light when the current is turned on, is made of tungsten in a tungsten lamp. In the earlier lamps, it was made of carbon. The carbon lamp is now seldom used and is highly inefficient when compared to the tungsten.
A Carbon Lamp consumes about three and one-half watts of current for each candle-power of light, whereas a small tungsten lamp uses only about one watt per candle-power small tungsten lamp uses only about one watt per candle-power. The tungsten lamp is therefore three times as efficient as a carbon lamp, and when used on a battery of equal voltage it is possible to obtain the same amount of light with one-third of the current that would be required by a carbon lamp.
Fig. 281.—Miniature Carbon Battery Lamp.